Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

ovaniie v Stranakh Tsentralnoi i Vostochnoi Evropi” [“The View of Theological Education in Countries of Central and Eastern Europe”] may serve as a good illustration of an attempt to explore contemporary trends in theological education and the churches’ attitude to this area of Christian ministry (Accessed on 13.05.2015, from https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1yrBNryUjYOWAxnZEERUhur72iBujijL_ IE-S8QJtD w/pub). 226 either the preacher and his listeners, or both. Regardless of how educators relate to such an extreme “charismatic” approach, it is a starting point of most of Russian Baptist grass root theology and practice.”? And, which is very important, this approach to ministry effectively excludes the need for education. It is not surprising therefore, that, as noted by Cherenkov, even today it is not unusual to hear the leaders of the Baptist Unions saying things like, ‘We do not need theology, since it is already in the Bible.’”* Nonetheless, contemporary theological education in Russia does not account for the existence of such a paradigm” or, even worse, dismisses it as senseless and irrelevant. In his reflection on the value of theological education Kornilov states, 3 Parushev, employing typologies of contemporary Christianity of Lesslie Newbigin and James Dunn, further develops the concept of the pneumotological stream of contemporary Christianity in his monograph Christianity in Europe. He writes, ‘Alongside the two dominant flows of theological thought, there have always been streams of radical and truthful living of the Way of Christ in believing communities committed to the Kingdom vision. They are not much interested in “What is God like?” or “How does He operate?” In a child-like fashion they are witnessing God’s immediate presence and acts in their lives, using, most of the time sub-consciously, the Socratic language of moral perfection and character formation (or discipleship). God is known by what He does in our midst. By constructing new ways of social living, they succeed in conveying, non-abrasively, the power of God to create the new in those and through those who are united to Christ (2 Cor. 5.17). They see themselves embodied in the narrative of the Kingdom of God revealed in and through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ Without dismissing the value of Christian education, this insight should serve as a reminder of the existence of a viable alternative to the power of reason and theological debate, which was at the heart of the Protestant way of doing church. (Parush R Parushev, Christianity in Europe: The way we are now with a response by Vija Herefoss, Crowther Centre Monographs Series, Volume 9 (May 2009) (Oxford, Church Missionary Society, 2009), pp 18-19). ** Cherenkov’s argument relates to the inability of the contemporary church leaders to see the value of quality theological education, which he perceives to be the root of the various problems of contemporary Bapt